School Work

Alex had a good night without seizures.

Todd was over to work with Alex on his PT. He still thought there should be adjustments made to his boots and knee braces. Marycke will pick up Alex after school and take him to the Doctor.

Today Alex slept in till 8:10 so maybe he will not be as sleepy in class. I think we need to remember Alex is Non Verbal not Non Thinking. I find sometimes because he does not say anything that I think he does not want to do anything. That leads to boredom, sleepiness and more drooling.

Here at home I try to keep him stimulated with videos of trains and planes, puzzles, typing, cutting and nerf toys. He use to do the computer but has not done much over the past 5 years. I do not think he does well with a mouse. But Region 20 still has lots of programs that could run from a keyboard. Even in Windows XP you can right click and set a program to run in Win95 or Win98 emulation. Maybe they have some simple programs that still can use a keyboard for input. (Millie's math house, sentence maker, Robbie the Robot)

As for puzzles, I have several 24-48 piece floor puzzles that I use when I know he is bored but not up to the challenge of 100-200 piece puzzles. Usually after he has had seizures or Diastat. Floor puzzles take up a lot of space. So at a desk in my office, Alex works on 80-100 piece puzzles that measure less than 12 x 10. If you need some I can put some together. In even more confined spaces he will complete 6x6 inch puzzle. He can work with very small pieces.

I know I have mentioned he will type if someone tells him to spell out the words like Neal, Mom, Abby, grandpa, etc. It needs to be things he knows. Everyday after school Grandpa lets him turn on the typewriter, advance the paper and then remove the paper after Dad is done. Then Alex runs down the hall to the kitchen looking back to see if Grandpa will chase him.

Ever since middle school, Alex has enjoyed shredding paper. Once a week or so his teachers would set him by a tub of paper to be shredded. I'm thinking of getting one for home. Just be aware he will shred everything so keep important papers away from him.

Another quiet activity he will do (like at church) is silly putty that we put several small glass beads in. Then Alex extracts the beads. He seems to enjoy it. There is also cutting. In the car, on the way to the beach, we can give Alex several individual pages from magazines with small pictures on them. Then he will cut them out. I also made five or so pages on the computer that have various shapes and colors. He will also cut those out. Usually, he like to have a tub or trash can nearby for the scraps to go in. Then there needs to be recognition for those that he cut out. Like pinning them on a board or lining them up. Like all of us he needs that reward.

Anyway, I hope you all have a better day and Alex can again have that sparkle in his eye when I tell him, 'Time for school.'

Have a great day.